The Walking Dead Final Season- Safe and Sound
by MoGhulisMoProblems
Summary: Short epilogues to the final of 'Take Us Back'. Taking placeafter the main story. I didn't want to do anything overly 'fan fictiony', so nothing OTT or forced or cheap fan service. Hoping it helps anybody else whose feeling a little bit empty without these characters. (This is based on my play-through; Romanced and saved Violet and trusted A.J to make the hard calls)
1. Chapter 1

"I think it's only juggling if you have more than two things."  
Louis looked down to see Clementine staring at him from over the top of the piano.  
He stopped passing the two tennis balls between his hands and gave her a look of mock confusion.  
"Don't get me wrong, it's impressive, but I don't think it's juggling." She was resting her head on her knuckles and was giving that half smile of hers; the one that was more in her eyes than anywhere else on her face.  
He had been passing two tennis balls between his hands for the past few fifteen minutes while she had been pressing keys on the piano.  
Louis dropped the balls on the chair behind him and grabbed a notebook and pencil that had been sitting there before scribbling on it.  
With an overly theatrical flick he turned the page to her.

_Find me another ball then!_

"I can't. I'm practicing. Somebody said this would be good for me."  
Louis playfully rolled his eyes and grabbed a piece of paper lying on top of the piano; it had already been written on.

_Play a chord!_

Clementine took her hands and hovered them over the keys. Louis had written the notes in marker pen a few days prior when he noticed she wasn't that eager to learn all the individual keys.  
She wasn't bothered about learning theory or music, and she could tell he knew that, but for the past few days he'd seen how relaxed and calm she had been, hitting keys and just enjoying the moment and surreal nature of it all.  
Clementine, the girl with stories written in blood and loss.  
He'd seen her as something else entire, something she'd never think about in this new world; a teenage girl playing the piano.  
"Ok, this one."  
She pressed down on four keys and birthed a bright, sweet sound and then played the notes individually for a couple of seconds.  
She looked at the paper on the music stand in front of her.  
"I think that's a C. That's my favourite so far."  
The smile again. She found it had been coming more and more frequently the past week.  
Louis threw both his thumbs up and was about to grab notebook when a shrill voice from outside bled through the windows.  
"They back! Guys, they're back!"  
Willy, to quote Aasim, was a great warning system because he was 'Too fucking loud'.

Clementine went to grab the crutches leaning on the piano but Louis beat her to it, placing them under her arms and helping her stand.  
"Ok, lesson's over. Let's go see what we've got" her tone changed; calm but with more significance and weight to it.  
She'd been using it less the past week, but Louis didn't hold out hope that she'd ever lose it.

Clementine made her way to the courtyard to find everybody else gathered outside, the family that made up 'Texas Two'.  
Violet had joked in private to Clem that she actually wasn't sure about the name, but once the flag went up it was official.  
"No takebacks" Clementine would playfully mock whenever she caught Violet smiling at the flag.

It was a beautiful day, with the soothing warmth of a midday sun and a cloudless vista above them, yet Clementine found her eyes wandering to the scars and wounds of the courtyard. The blackened veins of scorch marks that ran across the front walls, glass and splinters spread along the entrance, and dried blood that had been been tattooed into the stones on the ground.  
Nobody had talked about cleaning it up. What was the point?  
She forced herself back to the task at hand, there'd be time for those thoughts later; whether she wanted to or not.

"Clementine, look what they've got!" Ruby caught her by surprise, grabbing her by the arm gently and gesturing towards the front gate.  
She looked at the entrance and took a moment to catch her breath.  
Violet, A.J and Aasim were at the front gate, along with the horse and cart they had taken with them to meet the Caravan group.  
The cart was full of what appeared to be canned goods and a few boxes.  
"Oh my God" she exhaled.  
She made her way over as A.J ran to meet her, his face elated.  
"Clem look at all this stuff!" He wrapped his arms around her waist before pulling her arm slightly in the direction of the cart.  
"You got so much. How?" She bent down to face him, beaming.  
"Guess they like fish" Violet said, walking towards the two of them before kissing Clementine on the cheek.  
"There's so much here, how do they have so much?" Clementine gave Violet a look of delight and confusion, one she'd never seen.  
"There's a big group of them. They said they travel on the highway, going through abandoned cars, transport trucks, RVs and stuff. All the fun little hidey-holes."  
Clementines eyes narrowed slightly.  
"How big?"  
Violet grabbed her by the wrist and gently squeezed. It was something she'd started doing the past couple of days.  
"About a dozen, but they said they were part of a bigger group. No guns, a couple of them seemed pretty old as well."  
"It's Ok Clem." A.J piped up, "They were nice! They said they really liked the fish and the stuff from the greenhouse. They gave us some seeds, and said if we bring some books tomorrow they've got loads of other cool things they could give us! Also look!"  
He ran over to the cart, grabbed a can and waved it in her face excitedly. On the label was a picture of some cartoon oranges and above them, 'Canned Clementines in Juice'  
"It's you!"  
She laughed and turned to Violet who smiled and pre-empted Clementine's response.  
"Yeah, as if I wasn't going to tell him what it said" she squeezed her wrist again, before walking back to the cart to help unload.  
Clementine's sighed slightly, aware of how everybody but her was taking supplies from the cart inside.  
A quiet voice spoke up, A.J was still by her side.  
"It's Ok Clem. You do other stuff really, really good."  
She smiled at him.  
"Thanks Kiddo."  
She nodded at him and he ran back to the cart, grabbing a handful of cans, nearly bumping into Omar who had nearly a dozen in his arms.  
"Louis! Stop that!" Ruby yelled nearby.  
Louis had three small cans and was juggling them. He winked at Clementine, who shook her head and laughed.  
"That's more like it"  
Violet came back out and stood silent for a moment, trying to gather the right words.  
"Thank you. For talking us into this. We probably would have avoided them you know, like usual."  
Clementine smiled and took Violet by the hand.  
"It's Ok. Although, A.J's never gonna shut up about those canned oranges, so I'm starting to have my doubts."  
Violet squeezed her hand.  
"He did really well today."  
Clementine looked at the small boy, who was now sat enthralled as Louis juggled some canned peas and peaches.  
He couldn't see Clementine as she beamed in his direction.  
"I don't doubt it" She softly responded to Violet.  
"Hey, so we're gonna have to do inventory on all this later and that's obviously going to be the best part of everybody's day, so how about we sit down outside for a bit? If we've got time."  
Clementine squeezed her hand back.  
"Yeah, I'm pretty sure we do."


	2. Chapter 2

Violet stopped her hand suddenly, resting her thumb on the scarred piece of flesh she'd just tripped her fingers over on Clementine's shoulder.

The nights had gotten warmer, and it was the first evening Clementine wasn't wearing her jacket.

Sensing her fingers hovering slightly,Clementine turned to Violet, the side of her face becoming illuminated by the campfire.

"Gunshot wound" Clementine said, and smiled softly.

Violet's eye's widened.

"What? When?"

"A few years ago."

Violet shifted on the bench slightly, coming closer to Clementine.

"A few years ago? Like, when you were a kid?" she spoke in a slightly concerned whisper, not wanting to draw the attention of the group nearby. Louis and A.J were playing with some dominoes on another bench and Aasim was writing in his journal on the other side of the campfire.

"Yeah I was 11, it was a couple of days after my Birthday actually" Clementine She shook her head as a melancholic smile came to her lips. "Surprise."

Violet turned away for a few seconds, opening her mouth slightly before speaking.

"Who shoots an eleven year old?" But as soon as Violet asked that question her mind threw at her the stark evidence of the what she'd been through the past few weeks, and a much colder thought responded.

More people than you'd expect I guess.

Clementine was still dancing around Violet's question. It was an act of violence that seemed so commonplace and inconsequential in this new world, but when laid out in that blunt skeleton of a question the grim reality and weight came to the surface slightly.

Who shoots an eleven year old?

Clementine looked away from Violet, her eyes resting on the campfire and she shrugged before speaking matter of factly.

"Somebody scared I guess."

She leaned into Violet and took her hand, placing it back on the wound on her shoulder.

Violet didn't resist, and then reciprocated the lean.

"I can't even imagine getting shot now, let alone when I was a kid." Violet's voice became warmer and Clementine could tell she was smiling. "I guess you've always just been a badass."

"You know it." Clementine chuckled.

She tried not to think of the terrified man who cried and shook as he pointed that rifle at her, or the cold fire in her skin as she bled out on the snow, just a young girl.

She had better things to think of now. Although just like the snow that crept into that gunshot wound, sometimes she couldn't stop those thoughts from finding their way inside of her.

Maybe they always would.

She rested her head on Violet's shoulder and looked at A.J. He was staring at the dominoes in front of him in a tense contemplation, before a triumphant smile blushed across his face and he picked one up and threw one down onto the table.

Judging by Louis' exaggerated reaction of mock horror, it was a good move.

Violet whistled sharply and then called out.

"Hey, A.J, you kicking his ass?"

His face was back in his dominoes, already planning his next move. Although Clementine could tell he was probably just putting down whichever had the most dots.

"I'm trying to!" He called back out to Violet.

"Well, if you don't I'll be personally disappointed. I'm head of the 'Louis getting his ass kicked by A.J at Dominoes' fan-club'"

"I'll kick his ass!" he called out, before covering his mouth in embarrassment, turning to Clementine.

"Sorry Clem, swearing."

"Hey buddy. If it's all part of kicking Louis' ass, who am I to stop you?"

Louis turned to Violet and Clementine, placing his middle finger up at them and pulled back with his other hand, miming as if it was a slingshot.

A.J started mimicking it as Violet laughed again.

Aasim took his eyes away from his journal and rolled them at Louis.

"Save such powerful weapons for walkers buddy."

Louis turned to Aasim and gave him the 'slingshot' on rapid fire.

Violet laughed.

Clementine joined in, the little girl lying in the snow getting further from her memory.

The memory would be back, but for now Clementine wouldn't fight it, as the snow and blood were burned away by the embers dancing in the fire in front of her.


	3. Chapter 3

The water gently lapped across Clementine's foot; still and calm, even as the occasional fish darted past, escaping Violet and A.J's spears.

She was sat on the edge of the stream, her back to the sun and the wooden fishing shed.

Rosie was on the opposite bank, lying in a brief circle of light that remained, trying to get as much sun as possible before the evening arrived.

Clementine couldn't remember the last time she had just relaxed outside without a wall or a barricade surrounding her.

Sleeping inside a car certainly didn't count.

The group had kept themselves busy the past few days making some makeshift walker deterrents in the area.

Sharpened sticks had been dotted along the path like something from a crude wooden fort and Willy and Louis had dug a few moderately sized holes nearby. Not enough to trap anything, but dangerous enough to take a walker's ankle out of commission and leave them crawling along the dirt and dust.

Some barbed wire from the greenhouse was draped between trees near the fishing shed, looking like metallic spider webs crossing gaps in the forest.

Even still, they'd only seen about four walkers the past week, all individually and alone around the forest.

Both of these things had made Clementine comfortable enough to test Ruby's 'Prosthetic' outside of the school grounds.

It was a boot with some wood, metal and cloth around it based on a design found in one of the school's older history books. Some welding, an old belt, and dismantled bicycle parts later and Clementine had found herself standing without crutches, although supported by Violet.

She wouldn't be running any time soon, but she'd been ambling around the school ground for the past couple of days without too many problems.

A.J had taken to calling it her 'Robot leg' and hadn't stopped referring to it as 'super cool'.

Whenever she saw the bare stump, Clementine couldn't help but think of Lee, his arm missing as he fought across a dead city to find her all those years ago.

If he could do that, then the least she could do was try and walk without crutches for a day.

"How about we call it for today?" Violet spoke up nearby.

"Just one more, then my bucket's full" said A.J, peering into the stream with both hands on his spear.

"You got it. Make sure it's a fat one then" said Violet as she headed to the shed to return her spear, squeezing Clementine's shoulder as she walked past.

"How's the Water?"

"It's not freezing my toes like earlier, so that's always a win" Clementine said, taking her foot out and picking up her jacket from the grass to use as a towel.

"Maybe we should fill the swimming pool in the gym up." Violet joked from inside the shed.

"The size of these buckets, I think we'd need quite a few trips."

Clementine put her foot back in her boot and then grabbed the prosthetic next to her, calling out to A.J.

"Hey, wanna help me with my robot leg?"

He was putting a final fish in his bucket and turned to her with a smile wrapped around his face.

"You bet!"

He dropped his spear and ran over, grabbing the end of the boot and holding it steady as Clementine placed her leg into the metal frame before tightening the belt on the end at the end of the prosthetic.

"Alright, one Robot Leg assembled, nice job" she raised her palm and high fived A.J "Now make sure you put your spear back, before we go."

"Ok Clem" he said, running back to his spear and bucket.

She was always aware of how she sounded whenever she asked or told A.J to do something, that maternal tone she'd never gotten quite used to.

Sometimes she heard her Mother telling her to come in for dinner or be good for the babysitter.

She wasn't even sure if it was definitely how her Mother sounded or if it was her mind just doing the best with what memories she had. It'd been nearly a decade since Clementine had heard her voice, and her Mother had been dead longer than she'd known her.

Clementine couldn't help compare that 8 year old girl to A.J whenever she saw him, often wondering if was harder to adapt to this world or be born into it.

More than likely they were simply their own forms of tragedy, each as strong and wicked as the other.

A tap on her shoulder bought her out of this realm of thought.

"Need some help getting up?" Violet asked.

"Well, since you're offering." She looked up and smiled, grabbing onto Violet's arm before being pulled to her feet, wobbling slightly as the prosthetic shifted.

She grabbed onto Violet for balance before standing on her own.

"I'm sure it'll get easier" Violet said softly "And it's good you're wanting to go out and walk more. Also if you just sit around and get fat I probably won't be able to pick you up anymore."

Clementine laughed and wrapped her jacket around her waist.

"I'm going to spend the next week in my room, just eating nothing but rabbit and canned peaches, you'll see."

A.J spoke from inside the shack.

"Ruby says if you just eat rabbit you'll die." His hopped out of the doorway and went to grab his bucket.

"Is that so?" Clementine asked.

"Yeah. She says you'd get...um, proton poisoning?"

"Protein" Violet corrected. "Although I guess proton is also technically correct right?"

"Don't look at me" Clementine said smiling, "I dropped out of school at the 3rd grade"

"You dirty flunker" Violet said, going to grab her bucket.

"Hey, this little renegade hasn't even been to a school" Clementine pointed at A.J, winking as she turned her finger into a gun and pretended to fire.

"What's a proton?" A.J asked, hopping over the stream with his bucket.

"I don't think I'm the best person for Ruby when we get back, or find a book in the library." Clementine said, walking slowly across the stream and onto the path.

"Even better, ask Charles to draw you one." Violet said, walking next to Clementine, just within grabbing distance if need be.

Rosie stirred and lifted her head as the three of them walked past her.

"Here Girl, let's go have some fish." A.J said and whistled for her.

She stretched in the sun before trotting to his side and sniffing the bucket.

They were nearing the school gates when Clementine suddenly stopped and grabbed Violet.

"Ok, I think I might need a bit more help, I'm starting to ache."

The walk had been twice as long as usual, and Clementine's leg was aching from the stress of lifting, and then slightly dragging, the prosthetic but she'd done far more than she expected.

Clementine was sure Lee wouldn't have minded her getting a bit of help the final few steps.

Violet interlinked her arm with Clementine's and started to help her walk at a faster pace.

"Well, you lasted longer on the way back then you did going there, so that's awesome." Violet said.

A.J, a few steps ahead, turned back to face them.

""What's wrong?" he asked

"I guess I'm not one hundred percent robot yet." Clementine said smiling. "Maybe in a few days"

"I'm hoping for a Clembot pretty soon." A.J said, turning back around.

"Roboclem" Violet whispered.

"I think my Dad liked that movie." said Clementine.

"You ever watch it?"

"Nope. I was way too young for stuff like that."

"Well, we're talking about getting the horse and cart and going on a run to the city, maybe we could hit the video store, try and grab a copy. There's a video player in the science room."

"Roboclem date night?" Clementine chuckled.

"Roboclem date night." Violet repeated

Clementine was saying more things like that lately. Silly phrases. Daft, lighthearted jokes that meant nothing, but represented everything that had changed lately and how she had found herself in a place where she was able to say things like that.

After so many years giving A.J nothing but commands, instructions or warnings, she was now going hours at a time without even talking to him.

He'd greet her good morning and then run off, spending the rest of the day around the school.

He'd help Ruby and Aasim dig holes and plant seeds in the new gardens they'd fenced off, on what used to be an old sports field.

He'd go looking for trash with Willy and sketch wild and crazy inventions and ideas.

He'd spend a day in the music room helping Charles write lyrics and stories for songs, mostly to do with disco broccoli, something Clementine always begrudged herself for, the fact she never found any more books or stories for him.

Hours at a time travelling, with nothing but her trying to salvage half remembered tales and stories she'd been told as a child.

But then at night she'd see him lying in bed with a book he'd grabbed from the library, trying to make the most of the candlelight.

She'd consider telling him not to strain his eyes, but she'd just close hers and leave him be, smiling with every faint scrape of him turning a page.

They had no books in his age range, but plenty of encyclopedias and history books with illustrations and drawings.

They could almost be fiction now, events that transpired so long ago anyway were now rendered even more distant by the state of the world A.J had been born into. No trains or bustling restaurants and shopping malls to show the progress of historical drawings and illustrations that A.J would pore over.

Maybe Clementine was just overthinking things, the way one would do with a sudden excess of free time and peace.

He was reading books and going to sleep in a bed every night; that was more than enough.

As they reached the school gates Violet stopped and shook her head.

"I knew they wouldn't move him. That fucked up scarecrow."

She was referring to the wretched remains of a man slumped against a tree.

He used to be a man named Abel, but in death he was a crude warning, the unceremonious display of his corpse a decaying 'keep out sign'.

A dirty shirt was sliding over exposed ribs like a collapsed tent, and a frantic shadow of flies was blinking rapidly around any exposed flesh.

"I like it." A.J said "It tells people not to mess with us."

"We don't have anybody who wants to mess with us though." Clementine said.

"I just want it gone. It's gross and smells like shit." Violet said as she turned away, pulling Clem and walking to the School gates.

"Well, if they don't get rid of it tomorrow, we can do it." Clementine said.

"Yeah, we'll get Ruby and show the boys how it's done." Violet squeezed Clementine's arm and smiled.

Inside the school grounds, Violet walked to Clementine over to a bench and helped her sit down.

"I'm gonna drop my bucket off with Omar and check in on Ruby. She wanted me to help move some stuff out here before we all ate. Don't go anywhere." She said.

"Ha." Clementine mock laughed as Violet kissed her cheek and walked off.

Alone by herself, the cramping and strain on her leg became much more evident and pronounced; Clementine leaned over and tangled with the belt attached the prosthetic, unhooking it and letting it drop to the floor.

"Well, looks like I'm stuck here till after Dinner." She said quietly, before swinging her leg onto the bench and then lying down along the length of it. She then placed her remaining foot onto the middle of the bench, resting it and propping her knee in the air.

"Wake me up for dinner" she joked to nobody in particular, as she draped an arm over her face and closed her eyes.


	4. Chapter 4

The arrow fumbled forward into the air and slid against the dirt before feebly stopping. The Walker nearby didn't pay it any attention and carried on lurching towards the main gates.

"I missed" A.J said sadly, putting down the bow and leaning it against the side of the wall.

"It's OK. Like I said, you're too little for it" Clementine reassured him "You'll be better when you're older, or taller. A few more years or inches, whatever comes first"

She picked up the bow and then grabbed an arrow from the wooden bucket on top of the watchtower.

"Ok, I might lose my balance a bit, so grab me if I fall" she looked down at A.J and smiled.

With her makeshift foot planted firmly on the tower's wooden boards, she moved her other leg and assumed a firing stance.

A.J peered over the side of the wall at the approaching Walker, still ambling towards the gate.

It was an older man wearing a stained jumpsuit, like a Mechanic covered in gore and dirt instead of oil and grease.

"Here we go. For ten points" Clementine nocked the arrow and then pulled her arm back to draw the bow.

She exhaled and then loosed the arrow, which sped through the air and drove itself into the Walker's face, causing it to stumble and fall on its back.

"There, one less walker ruining the evening" said Clementine.

"How come you didn't miss?" A.J said, his eyes still on the Walker's crumpled form.

"Because I am a Warrior Queen. All tremble before me" she smiled and placed the bow back against the wall.

"I aimed for his nose. If you find something small and focus on that, it helps get the arrow close enough to where you want it to go. After plenty of practice of course."

"Who taught you that?" A.J asked.

Clementine thought for a moment and a half dozen possible faces sprang forward, a couple with names, but she was having trouble narrowing it down.

She had first picked up a bow years ago in Richmond, a scruffy hand me down lying around in the armory, but she couldn't recall who had specifically had taught her that piece of advice.

So many people with so many lessons, with most outliving the person who imparted them in the first place.

She mentally shrugged it off; at least she'd remembered the lessons, where they came from were sometimes less important.

"I'm actually not sure" she admitted, joining A.J against the wall.

"Well, I don't think I'll forget who told me" he said, turning to her and smiling.

"I should have lied, should have told you I thought of it myself. I could have looked pretty cool" Clementine grinned, resting her elbows on the wall and placing her chin in her hands.

"Yep, you're now super lame" A.J laughed.

"Better than that guy" Clementine nodded in the direction of the fallen Walker, the arrow planted in its skull like a sapling that had grown beneath it and burst through the bone.

"Should we get the arrow?" asked A.J.

"The guys who are fishing will grab it on the way back. Let's just stay up here for a bit" said Clementine, eyes on the sun as it began to bury itself below the treeline, merging into a blur of dark green and bright orange, with spots of soft light bleeding through the gaps between the trees.

"You know I used to get worried when the sun would set" Clementine said quietly "Even if we had somewhere to stay and were inside, I'd always feel anxious. Worried something would jump out the dark or we'd have to make a run for it in the middle of the night."

"I couldn't tell" said A.J.

"Lately I've been trying to watch the sunset as much as I can, just to get rid of that worry. Just to see something beautiful instead of feeling sick. I thought it might be easy with all the people here, and all these walls, but I'm still having trouble letting go of that feeling" Clementine exhaled before smiling somewhat.

"Maybe in a few more weeks It'll go away. Not like I can shoot an arrow at it sadly"

"If you could, you'd probably hit it right in the face" A.J said, turning to her and putting his thumb up.

"You know it kiddo" she returned the thumbs up and continued looking at the treeline, hearing faint birdsong drifting around various parts of the forest. Bright chirping bouncing around the trees, seemingly from everywhere.

She closed her eyes for a few seconds and focused on the sounds, before faint voices in the distance bled through, causing her eyes to slowly open.

"Sounds like the hunting party's back" she said.

"Time for food!" said A.J, leaping back from the wall and heading to the watchtower's ladder before scrambling down the rungs and leaping onto the dirt.

Clementine turned to see A.J running into the main building, rousing a sleeping Rosie who stretched for a few seconds before excitedly following him inside.

Turning back around she saw Louis, Aasim and Violet approaching the main gates. Louis was carrying a bucket of fish and Aasim had what looked like a couple of squirrels dangling over his shoulder like a grim, furry fashion accessory.

Clementine shot them a wave and pointed to the Walker on the ground.

"Could you get that for me?"

Louis gave a salute and handed Violet his bucket before dashing over to the corpse. He mimed rolling up his sleeves and grabbed the arrow with both hands, feigning stress and exertion before finally yanking the arrow out and playfully stumbling backwards.

Clementine mouthed a 'thank you' and gave him a thumbs up. Louis winked at her and jogged back to Violet, grabbing his bucket and placing the arrow in her hands.

"Well, seeing as I'm going that way anyway" she said, turning to face Clementine and smiling.

After closing the gate behind her, Violet headed to the Watchtower beside the entrance and made her way up.

Clementine was facing away, resting on her elbows and looking at the sunset.

"Hey, got you something" said Violet as she pulled herself over the top.

"Is it an arrow covered in brains?" said Clementine, still facing away.

"You know it. Only the best."

"You spoil me." Clementine laughed.

Violet threw the arrow in the wooden bucket and settled in next to her on the wall.

"What are you looking at?"

"Nothing. Everything. I'm just looking" Clementine shrugged

"You sound like me that time I shoplifted" said Violet, moving closer and resting her head on Clementine's shoulder for a few seconds.

"Isn't that what we do these days anyway?"

"Yeah kind of. But it's not as fun."

Clementine laughed before a glint of light caught her eye. It was the tip of arrow that A.J fired earlier, still lying in the dirt.

"Ahh, I should have asked Louis to get that" she said.

"Get what?"

"There's another arrow there. It's A.J's"

"You had me worried for a second. I thought you might have missed."

"Nope. Just ask that guy. Oh wait you can't, cause I put an arrow in his face" Clementine playfully nudged Violet.

" Fuck that guy" said Violet.

"Yep. Fuck that guy."

"On three?" Violet asked, playfully squeezing Clementine's hand.

She counted down, and after getting to three they both yelled a spirited "Fuck you!" over the wall and at the corpse. For a brief moment it drowned out the birdsong, before across the trees towards the sunset.


	5. Chapter 5

Rain thumped against the wooden boards that lay across the open window; hundreds of damp fingers impatiently tapping against the wood in a heavy, yet soothing, cascade. There was no discernible rhythm, and the rain was so heavy that in between the scattershot of multiple raindrops there was often one solid blast of sound as dozens of droplets seemed to hit at the same time.

Clementine was sixteen, laying on her bed in her room at Ericson, the candle on the desk beside her jumping slightly in the faint wind that the rain pushed through the cracks in the boards.

Clementine was eight, she was in her treehouse on a Friday night, a blanket around her and a battery powered lamp spreading a soft light that climbed around the walls around her. Through the treehouse's opening she could see small orbs of candlelight in the dining room, the golden circles distorted through the window glass.

Her Parents were having a Birthday dinner-

No, was it their anniversary?

Clementine couldn't remember

She could only conjure up the silhouette of a memory, the individual details were gone. Only the outlines remained;The sound of rain on the wood,the candles in the window, the two figures smiling in the dining room, their faces blurred slightly by streaks of rain on the glass.

Clementine had no pictures or videos of her parents. They had been dead for half of her life, and memories of them were always half complete and strained.

Maybe the rain wouldn't stop, and one day all that she'd have would be smudged, featureless faces behind a smeared, indistinct window.

She turned on her bed, trying her best to keep that memory as bright for as long as possible before it dimmed to black as she fell asleep.

The mountains in the distance were speckled green and yellow; autumn trees were lined along the slopes, contrasting with the dark brown of the hills and the thick white of the cloud filled sky.

They sat peacefully in the distance, towering against the small town nestled underneath them. Clementine imagined that it had always been a quiet place, even before most of the world went permanently silent.

She shifted in the cart, trying to get her blood flowing after an hour or so of being wedged in the back between stacks of empty crates. It was being pulled by Man O' War, a far more quiet and friendly Horse than his name (bestowed upon him by Louis) would indicate. Aasim and Ruby were both sat on top, her hands around his waist as he scanned the town in front of them.

"I can't remember the last time we came here," he said.

"It was for a parade. Independence day. We all got hot dogs and sat outside the town hall," Ruby spoke, her voice light as she rolled off the memories.

"Oh yeah. Wow, that was years ago. Was that when we all had to wait on the bus for ages?"

"Yeah. Mitch wondered off. The Teacher's found him outside the general store-"

"Trying to pay adults to buy him some beer. Yep, I remember that. What an idiot, he was like ten years old."

Aasim laughed as Ruby smiled before shushing him.

"Sounds like a fun day," Clementine said, still staring at the mountains ahead.

"I'd kill for a hot Dog," Aasim said.

"Fingers crossed then, maybe we'll find some Hot Dog seeds," Clementine said.

Another laugh from Aasim and a playful scolding from Ruby.

"We should have come here years ago, we might not have stressed so much about hunting food," Aasim said.

"I know, but Marlon said we couldn't-" Ruby began, before stopping herself.

Clementine felt it best not to interject; she got the gist of things.

The sound of a metal bell shimmered beside them as the wooden door to the Visitor Center opened. Violet emerged with a smile on her face as she waved a piece of paper at them.

"Ok. One town map. Let's go shopping."

She unfurled the map and walked over to a picnic table nearby. Aasim hopped off Man O' War and went over to her, while Ruby helped pull Clementine over the side of the cart, who wobbled slightly as she stood upright.

"You Ok?" Ruby asked.

"Yeah, just waiting for all the blood to come back. Thankfully it doesn't take as long these days," she smiled and nodded towards her 'Robot leg'.

Ruby smiled, but seemed a bit hesitant to laugh. Clementine found that joking was helping her deal the fallout of losing a part of herself, but it seemed not everybody was as comfortable joining in with her.

Not A.J though; he was constantly coming up with crazy hypothetical ideas for attachments and special abilities for the Robot leg. Clementine's favourite so far was his idea of putting a mini trampoline on the bottom so she could, in his words, 'Jump super high and stomp on Walkers'.

She walked over to the picnic table and sat at the edge of the bench next to Violet.

"Any trouble in there?" She asked.

"Nope. Absolutely dead. In the best sense of that word," Violet said, turning to her and smiling before going back to the map.

She pointed at two buildings a block apart.

"Ok. These two places are going to be our best bet for equipment. One's a store and the other's the 's a lot of other buildings that might have some good stuff, but I'd rather save that for another day until we know how quiet this place is, and this cart doesn't have a lot of space, so we can't afford any wasted space. Sound good?"

The others nodded their heads and gave a collective murmur of acknowledgment.

"We want proper decent tools," Ruby chimed in, "The ones at the school are kind of..."

"Crap," Aasim interjected.

"Yeah, that," she said.

"We've got plenty of seeds from that caravan, but some more won't hurt," said Clementine.

"What about the pharmacy?" Aasim asked.

"Ruby, I don't imagine we'll find anything in date, but there should be other things we can use right? Bandages and stuff? Violet asked

"Yeah, I'll grab what I can."

"If there's a wheelchair that'd be nice. But you know, don't put yourself out or anything," Clementine said playfully.

"Ok," Violet nodded and shot her a smile, "Well, we need to be at the middle of the street so that isn't too far. Aasim and I will go inside; Ruby you stay with the horse, and Clementine's the best shot so she'll be in the cart with her bow like an angel of death- Or, more death, I guess."

She folded the map up and turned to Clementine, who was smiling sweetly at her.

"What?" Violet asked.

"Nothing. It's just nice to have somebody in charge,"

"Yeah, well, I just thought 'What would Clem say?' and did my best impression of you," she squeezed Clementine's shoulder and helped her too her feet.

"Alright," Aasim began "Let's get this super weird double date moving."

Clementine and Violet hopped in the back of the cart while the other two climbed onto Man O' War, who began gently trotting down the main road into town.

As Man O' War made his way into town, Clementine was acutely aware at how untouched the place seemed. There were no bodies strewn like dust on the streets, no graffiti of blood or gunfire, and no cars abandoned in the middle of the road like models dropped haphazardly from the sky. The only things awry were dead traffic lights that hung from intersections with blank obsidian circles like debatable post modern art, and power lines without any purpose draped between empty buildings.

Clementine felt slightly relieved in all honesty, to experience what seemed like a normal environment, albeit one with nobody in sight.

"I guess everybody went into the city," Violet said, almost latching on to what Clementine was thinking. "The place was a tourist trap, so not many locals living here."

"Well, as long as it stays this quiet," said Clementine, absentmindedly running her fingers down her bow string.

Violet turned around and looked down the street.

"Ok, that red building there," she called to Aasim, "That's our first place, so stop around there."

Aasim led Man O' War a few more meters and then stopped him in front of a brick red building with a blue awning swaying over the front door.

The window was stained and spotted with dust, but some lime green writing was bleeding through the grime.

'January's Goods' was embossed on the glass in a carefree, hand painted font. And below it was the sweet, childlike painting of a bouquet of flowers.

Violet hopped off the cart and pulled on the main door. It didn't budge.

She rolled her eyes and grabbed her spear off the cart before heading back and driving the wooden end into the glass in the center of the door.

After a few hits there was a satisfying, soft smash, and she carefully slithered her arm in before unlocking the door.

Violet put her head in and whistled a tuneless call before hopping back to the Cart, spear at the ready.

Nothing happened. No Walkers came shambling out from the store or the immediate area.

"Well, that's a nice surprise" Violet said, lowering her spear and turning to Aasim.

"Ok, let's get something nice for the kids" she said, squeezing Clementine's arm before heading into the store with Aasim.

With the other two searching, Ruby and Clementine stayed silent in the street, the only sounds being a faint wind that tickled a nearby American flag hanging from a windowsill.

Ruby remained on top the horse, while Clementine scanned the doorway to the store.

The bulk of the inside was hidden behind the wall, so she could only make out the front counter; it was a charming looking bench with a old fashioned till on top and a a framed picture straddling the wall behind it. It was a painting of the town itself during winter, consisting of a haze of gorgeous yellow street lights illuminating a snowy evening. Clementine couldn't tell if there were people in the painting, or if it was as quiet and barren as the silent thoroughfare the street had now become.

Either way, Clementine liked it. Ericson was surprisingly devoid of artwork that wasn't crayon drawings or technical diagrams and historical paintings found in books in the Library.

Her attention was bought elsewhere by the sound of a scraping nearby though, as her head snapped towards where it was coming from.

The source of the noise was a small alley nearby, and within seconds a thin, spindly figure emerged from the corner; a walker, dragging a twisted foot that hung off the bottom of the leg like a bent pipe. It was wearing heavy boots and the one on the broken foot was dragging across the floor, the metal buckles scratching across the road.

It was a young woman who looked liked she'd been dead for years. Polystyrene bones bumped outwards against withered skin, and her clothes seemed about five sizes too big for the pipe cleaner limbs inside of them. Clementine imagined that it just been laying dormant in that alley for years, rotting away and motionless until their little shopping spree had stirred it awake.

Ruby turned to face the noise and jumped somewhat, startled moreso by the appearance of the Walker than anything else. She turned to Clementine who already had her bow drawn.

Wordlessly she raised herself up and aimed at the poor creature, which was traveling at such a pitiful speed it may as well have been on the other side of the mountains.

Clementine focused on the walker's right eye and loosed her bow, the arrow embedded itself just above it and the walker slumped to the ground.

"I've got it," Ruby said, hopping off the horse and then grabbing the arrow from the body.

A figure from the alley appeared and swiped a decayed arm towards her, causing Ruby to stumble backwards in surprise.

"Shit, shit, shit," she gasped, as the walker made another attempt at grabbing her.

"The arrow!" Clementine called out "Use the arrow!"

Ruby righted herself and lunged at the walker, the arrow raised like a dagger. Whether in a panic or adrenaline she misjudged her aim, and the arrow found itself lodged pathetically in the walker's cheek, just barely hanging off it.

"Shit, shit, shit," she chanted again, as she pushed at the creature's chest, trying to gain some distance. The walker stumbled backwards and then righted itself, moving towards Ruby. She scrambled backwards and then gasped in surprise as the walker's head snapped backwards like a flag in the wind. It fell to the ground, an arrow wedged in its skull.

Ruby turned to Clementine, who had already nocked another arrow and was scanning the streets for any other Walkers to emerge.

Ruby started to hurry back to Man O' War before stopping and running back to the second walker, and pulling both arrows from its head.

"Thanks for that," she said quietly to Clementine, sheepishly putting the arrows back in the cart.

"Don't worry about it," Clementine said, her bow still at the ready, "They're quiet, we all get surprised sometimes."

She shot a smile at Ruby, but wondered how she would have reacted if it had been A.J instead.

Would she have panicked? Scolded him for being reckless? Been relieved he was unharmed?

She didn't know for sure, and tried not to think about, distracting herself by turning her eyes towards the crisp, sour coloured trees in the distance and focusing on them.

"Ok, budge up," Violet said playfully, nudging Clementine as she dropped a couple of small spades and trowels into the cart. Aasim then threw in a plastic watering can and a sack of fertilizer before filling one of the crates with some wooden supports and a small trellis.

"That was all there was. Guess there was an end of the world sale on," Violet said, before noticing the two bodies nearby.

"Huh, guess it wasn't as dead as we thought. Any trouble?"

"Nope, angel of death here," said Clementine, turning back to Ruby who was examining the supplies in the cart, "This is a good haul right? I mean, the cart is pretty full up. We can start planting some seeds in the school fields?"

"I imagine so," Violet said, squeezing into the cart next to her, before turning to Ruby, who spoke just as Violet was about to open her mouth.

"Yeah, this is good. Proper equipment for dirt and planting, not just the flowerpots in the greenhouse," Ruby said excitedly.

"Alright, let's get our green thumb on," said Violet.

Ruby hopped back on Man O' War and paced a block or so further into town towards the pharmacy. Ruby and Violet headed inside and after a couple of minutes came back out, carrying a plastic bag each.

"A lot of panic buying I guess," said Ruby, preempting a response, "but we managed to grab some decent stuff. Bandages, needles, stuff without a use by date basically. Aspirin and other shelf medicine go bad after about 2 years, so I think we're well past the use by date for anything that was left."

"Well anything is better than, well nothing," said Aasim reassuringly, helping Ruby get back onto Man O' War.

The wind was picking up, and a stream of dead leaves was pouring down the street. The sky was still thick with clouds and Clementine imagined there'd be a repeat performance of the barrage of rain from the previous night. She imagined that, just like the others, she'd rather not be caught in it.

"That's everything? We're good to go?" said Clementine, making room for Violet as she climbed into the cart.

"Yeah, let's get back home," Violet replied, squeezing herself beside her and then cuddling up.

Aasim got Man O' War into a trot before breaking into a slighter faster walk; the cart, weighed down with tools, groaned slightly as it was pulled down the street.

"Hopefully the weather isn't shit tomorrow," whispered Violet, "I'd rather not dig holes in the rain all day."

"I'm sure digging holes in the rain builds character, that's the Ericson way right?" Clementine joked.

"Fuck that," said Violet, closing her eyes and leaning her head against Clementine's shoulder.

As they moved through town, Clementine saw the American Flag from before, this time shaking in a frenzy against the wind that had picked up. She moved her eyes towards the general store, and noticed the door had been left open. The painting behind the counter grabbed her attention as they moved past it. She thought of asking them to stop, and for one of them to grab it, but the cart was already struggling for any empty space.

She closed her eyes and rested her head against Violet's.

"Maybe next time" she thought.


End file.
